Technology
I’ve given up on technology websites. My start of the day ritual has for almost a decade been to start with a cup of coffee and read [The Verge}(https://www.theverge.com/) and then Gizmodo and then Engadget this is how I would wake up. This is the technological equivalent of reading a lingerie catalog, moving on to a mens magazine and then finishing with a little online porn, just with plastic and processors. There is such a lather of dissatisfaction that comes from advancement. To win the great war we got really good at making factories. Those factories made guns, and tanks, helmets and uniforms. You make one and then you make another. Onward marching into the future. That kinda energy can be put to feeding the war machine or peoples appetite to consume and upgrade.
Cars were maybe one of the first things to upgrade. If you come to consider the automobile it is not a monolithic device. A automobile is a series of timers. Your seat comfort and upholstery is on a timer. Your engine is on a timer. Your paint job and tires are all on timers. All the timers are always running. If you don’t drive the car the timer still runs. If you drive the car the timer runs. If you take meticulous care of the car and keep it in your house safe (like a baby), with a entire room dedicated to it you slow the timer. If you proactive take additional care of every component you slow down time. Or just get another car. Why be nickeled and dimed with repairs and maintenance, ditch that car and get another one.
Technology is not the same. Technology is frozen in a moment of hardware being engineered to spec, while existing software (ever hungry for power) either takes advantage of that new spec or new software is produced that takes advantage of the new opportunities that the hardware has provided.
This isn’t a condemnation of technology or factory economics (well…), it is an observation. Features are the encapsulation of progress, progress comes over time. Progress in things means the creation of new things. I stopped reading the aforementioned sites cause the The Verge did a redesign that is hideous. After years of making a mostly reader friendly interface they’ve shit up with a layout that only a college zine inspired kid would toss up on the web. They’ve done upgrades in the past that I had to adjust to, but this new one is nearly inscrutable to me. It has somehow broken this consumption behavior though. I no longer have any interest in those things. Habits. You can do the same thing for years and then some introduction of something new just breaks the routine. For some there is nothing more. For others it creates a revelation. “Why other than because I have been am I doing this now?”
Itinerary I’m traveling into the city ///atoms.carver.touches to tell some potential clients I can’t shave 30k off of their estimate and still give them everything they want cause that isn’t possible. I could cut that fart over the phone but I want to sit with them and use the time as an opportunity to discuss development and leave them with the opportunity to have a good last impression. We may not be able to do this deal with them, but sometimes they circle back.
The more interesting thing abou this meeting is that I am I going to be dropped off by Katie and then I have to make my way back to town for a meeting. I can bicycle and jump on the train, or walk and jump on the train, or a bus or an Uber. I don’t know which one actually appeals to me more though.
I biked to a meeting yesterday and that was good energy. Today i’m going to double down, but I should be mindful that it is smack in the middle of my feeding opportunity, so I have to be mindful of that. It is also a snug enough time that I have to think it out and my breezy work schedule calls.
How do you find time to figure things out and also write about them…
